Sterling, Oklahoma
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Northeast Comanche census division. It lies in ZIP code area 73541. The Survey maps it on the Fletcher quadrangle. 668 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,230 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSterling fell from 793 to 668 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 793 | |
| 2020 | 668 | -125 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1949 USGS Cement quadrangle1:62500
- 1955 USGS Lawton quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Cement quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Fletcher quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Lawton quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Fletcher quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
13 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Sterling between 2000 and 2019, burning about 322 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Anadarko Agency | LUMPIE |
| 16 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Anadarko Agency | BETHEL ROAD |
| 4 July 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Anadarko Agency | THE PLAYER |
| 9 May 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Anadarko Agency | REECE |
| 31 May 2004 | Debris and open burning | 65 acres | Anadarko Agency | STICKMAN |
| 4 March 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Anadarko Agency | TOEMIESTER |
| 1 March 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 acres | Anadarko Agency | WEATHDACHKOAH |
| 26 February 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.5 acres | Anadarko Agency | SOUTH STERLING |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
41 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sterling in 41 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 30 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $210,000 | Wind damage was also reported in the area with several power poles snapped at ground level and damage to many cars and residential roofs. A large cell tower toppled on the east side of Lawton. Monetary damages are estimated. |
| November 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $25,000 | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Lightning | Sterling | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $7,000 | Numerous tree limbs and power lines were downed around Sterling. Monetary damages were estimated. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $6,000 | Several 6 to 8 inch diameter tree limbs down. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $6,000 | Four power poles snapped at base. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | $2,000 | A tree and power pole blown down near the intersection of Northeast 165th Street and Northeast Cline Road. Time is radar estimated. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Sterling | - | The report was relayed through mPING. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Sterling | - | Time is radar estimated. |
| April 2020 | Tornado (EFU) | Sterling | - | A tornado developed in far eastern Comanche County east of Sterling, just west of the Grady County line. The tornado produced no known damage in Comanche County before moving quickly into Grady County. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | - | Four and five inch diameter tree limbs down at Sterling High School. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2020 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| April 2020 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| April 2020 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| October 2019 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| October 2008 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| October 2008 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Sterling | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount View | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| Fletcher | 6.3 miles | 13 | |
| Elgin | 6.7 miles | 14 | |
| Coxs Corner | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| Lake Ellsworth Addition | 9.9 miles | 14 | |
| Cove Acres | 10.4 miles | 14 | |
| Bethel | 10.8 miles | 12 | |
| Ridley | 11.4 miles | 16 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Sterling | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3447728 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1098522. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





